Controversy Brewing Over No-fishing Zone

ABOARD THE NPS ACTIVA — A sunny late-spring day with almost no wind leaves the blue waters here, 70 miles past the road's end at Key West, almost as calm as a bathtub.

But it is a misleading picture.

Just as an amazing array of marine life thrives under the surface -- hidden away, eating and being eaten -- so, too, is controversy quietly brewing over plans to establish no-fishing zones here, near a remote group of islands called the Dry Tortugas.

Across 200 square miles of some of Florida's most pristine waters, removal of fish and other marine life would be prohibited -- from recreational rod-and-reel catches of yellowtail snapper to factory-style trawling for Key West pinks, the sweet and sought-after shrimp that grow up in nearby Florida Bay.

Akin to game preserves on land, where hunting is not allowed, these "no-take" marine reserves would be the biggest in the New World, second largest on the globe. A panel advising the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is scheduled to consider the idea on Tuesday.

"It's like establishing an insurance policy," said Billy Causey, manager of the Marine Sanctuary, as he cruises on this National Park Service boat. "If the fisheries management policies fail in other places, we will still have a place where the coral-reef community is intact and can produce enough to keep the populations viable."

A sanctuary working with representatives of environmental organizations, government agencies and commercial fishing interests spent more than a year fashioning the boundaries of the proposed Tortugas Marine Reserve. The panel approved what representatives of all factions called a compromise.

Those speaking for fishing interests, while not crazy about a no-fishing zone, said they could live with it.

Still, some commercial fishermen remain opposed.

"This is idiocracy," says Key Wester Harvey Watkins. "Remember 30 or 40 years ago, when they put all the small farmers out of business? They're doing the same thing to me. They're taking my livelihood away from me."

Divisions over the proposed marine reserve have their origins in a bitterly fought campaign to establish the authority of the marine sanctuary, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, across 3,200 square miles of Florida Keys waters -- an area larger than Delaware.

Established by Congress in 1990 in response to a series of groundings by huge ocean-going freighters on fragile Keys coral reefs, the sanctuary in 1995 proposed a series of no-take zones, including a large one near the Dry Tortugas.

Keys residents voted against the sanctuary by 55 percent in 1996. The vote forced the federal agency tomake changes so the sanctuary would be more palatable to state government. The state's permission was necessary for sanctuary rules to be enforced in state waters. One big concession was to postpone by several years debate about the Tortugas reserve, by far the largest no-fishing area proposed.

Although they won other concessions after the vote, Watkins and his fishermen friends remain bitter three years later.

"The marine sanctuary is communism in action," said fisherman Ronnie Nicklaus.

Nature's course

Although the large Tortugas reserve was postponed, a series of smaller "sanctuary preservation areas" and a somewhat larger "ecological reserve" were established. Diving and snorkeling are permitted, but no taking of marine life. Four "special use" areas are open only to researchers. The restricted zones cover about 2 percent of sanctuary waters.

The idea is to see what happens when people leave a portion of the ocean alone. Scientists think that, eventually, these protected areas might help pump back life into battered Keys fish stocks.

July 1 will mark the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the experiment. Although it is too early to say whether the trend will continue, scientists have noted larger numbers of lobsters -- and larger lobsters -- on the protected reefs.

As soon as then-Gov. Lawton Chiles and the Cabinet approved the sanctuary's new rulebook, , sanctuary staffers launched a process they called Tortugas 2000. It is a title calculated to telegraph to opponents that the no-fishing reserve will be established by 2000.

The working group of environmental, government and fishing interests met with scientists and economists who outlined the area's importance. A facilitator helped the group reach agreement on the boundaries of the proposed reserves.

"It was very touchy-feely, to be honest, but it worked," said Cheva Heck, a sanctuary staffer. "People really felt like they were working together to come up with the best plan they could."

Clearly, though, some fishermen are simply resigned.

"They keep saying the fishermen are agreeing with what they say, but you have no choice," said Walter Kirchner, captain of the Gulfstream III charter boat. "They've got you under their thumb."